1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the area of electronic commerce and more particularly relates to an interactive test or try-on platform in which a user can try on eyeglasses of different styles on a 3D face model provided by the user, wherein the 3D face model is preferably generated from the user so that the user can electronically and interactively try on a selected pair of glasses.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a data communication network of interconnected computers and computer networks around the world and is rapidly evolving to the point where it combines elements of telecommunications, computing, broadcasting, publishing, commerce, and information services into a revolutionary business infrastructure. The economy on the Internet is growing in every aspect of life, a wide range of businesses including stock trading, commodities, products, retails and services ordering are all via the Internet.
The growth of Internet-based electronic commerce, however, is experiencing some obstacles when coming to certain types of services and goods. For example, it would be very difficult for a business to promote wearable goods online, such as footwear, glasses and accessories. When buying expensive leather shoes, very few consumers would order a pair over the Internet. One of the reasons is that everyone has developed his/her own shaped feet through years of walking habits. Generically sized shoes could hardly fit comfortably on everyone's foot. On the other hand, the markets for the shoe manufacturers and businesses are limited to certain geographic areas. Eyeglasses are another example. Unless it is a pair of generic sunglasses, very few consumers would order personalized glasses, such as near-sighted glasses, over the Internet. Similar reasons are applied because a consumer likes to try on a pair of chosen glasses and see from a mirror how he/she looks with the chosen pair, hence the market for eyeglasses is primarily limited to local retailing. Indeed, there are many other consumer products and industrial goods or services that are being limited to local markets because the current Internet-based commerce platform lacks “try on” experiences. There is, therefore, a need for a mechanism that a user or buyer could “try on” or test a selected item or service over the Internet before a commitment to the selected item can be made.